British

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8.6.41 [George Orwell]

June 8, 2011 in British, Political, Syria, War-time by orwelldiaries

The British entered Syria this morning.

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15.9.40 [George Orwell]

September 15, 2010 in Aeroplane, British, Political, War-time, bomber, crash, fighter, german, shot down, snipe by orwelldiaries

This morning, for the first time, saw an aeroplane shot down. It fell slowly out of the clouds, nose foremost, just like a snipe that has been shot high overhead. Terrific jubilation among the people watching, punctuated every now and then by the question, “Are you sure it’s German?” So puzzling are the directions given, and so many the types of aeroplane, that no one even knows which are German planes and which are our own. My only test is that if a bomber is seen over London it must be a German, whereas a fighter is likelier to be ours.

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16.7.40 [George Orwell]

July 16, 2010 in British, Burma road, China, Government, Hong Kong, Japan, Political, Popular Front, Tosco Fyvel, War-time, intelligentsia, left by orwelldiaries

No real news for some days, except the British government’s semi-surrender to Japan, i.e. the agreement to stop sending war supplies along the Burma road for a stated period. This however is not so definite that it could not be revoked by a subsequent government. F.[1] thinks it is the British government’s last effort (i.e. the last effort of those with investments in Hong Kong, etc.) to appease Japan, after which they will be driven into definitely supporting China. It may be so. But what a way to do things – never to perform a decent action until you are kicked into it and the rest of the world has ceased to believe that your motives can possibly be honest.

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12.6.40 [George Orwell]

June 12, 2010 in Abyssinian war, British, Eileen, Germans, Italian shops, Mussolini, Political, Spanish war, Swiss, War-time, attacks, french, soho by orwelldiaries

E[ileen]. and I last night walked though Soho to see whether the damage to Italian shops etc. was as reported. It seemed to have been exaggerated in the newspapers, but we did see, I think, 3 shops which had had their windows smashed. The majority had hurriedly labelled themselves “British”. Gennari’s, the Italian grocer’s, was plastered all over with printed placards saying “This establishment is entirely British”. The Spaghetti House, a shop specialising in Italian foodstuffs, had renamed itself “British Food Shop”. Another shop proclaimed itself Swiss, and even a French restaurant had labelled itself British. The interesting thing is that all these placards must evidently have been printed beforehand and kept in readiness.

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